Fereshin Keep
"We won't rebuild it. It'll remain as it is: Rotting on the mountain side and buried in snow. This will be the fate for all who side with Perenolde." -Dominion Captain Castle Fereshin, more commonly known as Fereshin Keep, was a medium-sized castle located near the western edge of the Alterac Mountains. For many centuries serving as the main holding for the minor Alterac noble House of Fereshin, the castle was the settlement nearest to the Highpine Valley, though not physically located in the Valley itself. During the Crushridge-Syndicate War it served as the headquarters for the undead cabal known as the Lords of the Tombstones before it was besieged by the Argus Wake and left abandoned for nearly a decade. History Origins Built four hundred years before the arrival of the Orcs, Fereshin Keep was originally a single outpost tower near the eastern slope of the Highpine Valley, located on the westernmost edge of the Alterac Mountains. Ownership of the Valley, the tower, and a scant few hundred acres surrounding the tower were gifted to the House of Fereshin several decades after the tower's initial construction, although the Valley's nigh-impassable granite slopes made potential cultivation of the Valley's resources impossible until much later. Even by the time of the Second War, few had ventured into Highpine. The Fereshin family instead built up around the single tower, creating a castle & expanded the few hundred acres surrounding the Keep over time. The original tower was expanded over the centuries, so much so that the original tower eventually no longer existed, with the Keep's central Great Hall being built in the tower's origjnal location, but the entire complex was affectionately referred to as Fereshin Keep rather than Castle Fereshin, even by the House of Fereshin themselves. Second War & The Syndicate The Fereshin family held firm to their loyalty to the House of Perenolde when the military of the Alliance of Lordaeron occupied Alterac City. The Fereshins armed those beholden to them and extended aid to other Houses who proclaimed loyalty to the Perenoldes. After Aiden Perenolde's capture, the Fereshin estate continued their resistance. Their region's isolated position staving off Alliance intervention until Aiden Perenolde's eventual escape. Retaining their loyalty to their King, the Fereshin family joined the newly formed Alterac Syndicate. Their Keep's relatively unscathed status allowed for the Fereshins to become some of the Syndicate's early providers of weapons. Greater efforts were undertaken in hopes of moving into the Highpine Valley for more resources, although efforts were stymied by inter-House feuding among the Syndicate. Crushridge-Syndicate War Following the conclusion of the Third War, the arrival of the Crushridge Clan of Ogres forced the Syndicate out of Alterac City, beginning the Crushridge-Syndicate War. At the same time, Fereshin Keep was assaulted by a group known as the Lords of the Tombstones, a cabal of ex-Scourge Death Knights and Necromancers. The Fereshin household were slain along with their followers within the Keep and in the surrounding lands. Fereshin Keep was occupied by the Lords following this massacre and the former residents were raised into undead servants for the Keep's new owners. The Keep served as the Lords' headquarters in Alterac under the direct command of Lord Anthrath while they slowly attempted to gain control over the former Kingdom. The Keep was later besieged by the Argus Wake and their Syndicate allies in a violent attempt to wipe out the Death Knights. The substantial losses incurred for the sake of victory over the Lords made holding the former lands of the House of Fereshin impossible. With too few domestically located allies, a heavily damaged fortress, and with the location so deep it what was now Crushridge territory, they ultimately abandoned the Keep. Modern Day The castle remained shattered on the slope outside of the Highpine Valley for nearly a decade before the Dominion of Alterac laid claim to the lands formerly owned by the House of Fereshin, citing the Fereshin's siding with the Syndicate and the House's extinction as reason to reclaim the lands in the name of the reborn nation of Alterac. The Dominion has begun operations in the nearby Highpine Valley and while banners have been erected on its premises, the Keep remains in ruins as a grim reminder of the fate for all who side with Perenolde, though the true reason for the Keep's destruction is entirely unknown to the Dominion. = Category:Castles Category:Alterac Locations Category:Kingdom of Alterac Category:Alterac Syndicate Category:Dominion of Alterac